When I first took the road my inner voice would pop up; how much longer; are we there yet; I am feeling tired; can we stop soon. It drove me to distraction and it didn’t need a psychologist to tell me that wasn’t useful. I needed to come up with a better plan, and to distract my mind.
I started to talk to experienced runners about what they did and discovered that they were probably further down the road than I was in controlling their thoughts. The big advantage they have is that running is second nature to them, whereas I was just learning and it was hard, and therefore needed a different strategy.
1. Listening to new music.
I choose a playlist on Spotify with a beat i.e. 150-165bpm, but choose music I had never heard before and set myself the challenge to listen and decipher every word. Its tricky, particularly listening to hip hop (so not my kind of music) but also fun. Fun is good.
2. Choose a different path
As I am using the 5KPro app, and someone is telling me when to walk and when to run, I don’t need to plan my distance. I just go in different directions, sometimes drive somewhere and start from a new location. Just something different to look at. I find it helps to distract my mind.
3. I make up a story about the people I run past. If they’re walking with someone I invent relationships and conversations they are having. I do find this very distracting and also amuses me continually.
4. If I am having trouble making all of the above stick, I challenge myself to mathematical problems. For example, if I keep running at the speed I am, in 4 minutes I would have covered what distance, or if I increase my speed by a X how would that distance vary, or how long would I then take to finish. etc. etc. This usually drives me crazy but has great distracting benefits.
5. I find listening to my breathing works sometimes. I try and breathe to the rhythm created by my feet. Equal measure in and out. When this works for me it is actually incredibly pleasant and relaxing. One of these days it is going to work all the time.
Would love to hear what you do.
Enjoy your running. Until next time.